What is a pauper’s affidavit?

A pauper’s affidavit is used by a tenant to escape the burden of paying for the “court cost” associated with an appeal. The affidavit is essentially a statement under oath that the tenant is too poor and incapable of paying a few hundred dollars to the State of Texas.

Landlords can contest a tenant's pauper's affidavit. However, if a landlord contests the affidavit, there will be a hearing. On that note, before contesting a pauper's affidavit, a landlord should consider whether contesting the affidavit will simply delay the process further.

Texas Eviction does not contest pauper's affidavits to expedite the appellate process.

So, what is a Pauper's Affidavit? Very
simple. Your tenant can appeal the judge's
ruling from the JP court, and there are
several ways to do that.
One of those is referred to as a pauper's
affidavit, and what they're basically
saying to the courts in a written format
is that they don't have the resources,
i.e. , the money, to pay the filing fees,
to put money in the registry of the court,
or meet any of the other financial
requirements needed to move it to the next
level. Now, of course, they do this, and
they don't have to pay all those things if
it's awarded by the judge.
So a Pauper's, what it allows them to do,
is it doesn't take away from their legal
rights to be represented and have the
courts if they can't afford it.
So it's just a way of telling the courts
and telling you that they do not have the
resources to pay the filing fees and any
bonds that were required, etc.etc.
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